Bengaluru, Apr 18 : An estimated 15 per cent polling was reported in 14 Lok Sabha segments in the first phase of election (second phase in the country) at 10 AM.
Official sources said polling was peaceful throughout the 14 segments and barring minor glitches in EVMs the voting process was carried out seamlessly.
Karnataka Director General of Police Neelamani S Raju said no untoward incidents reported from across the 14 segments and polling remained totally peaceful.
Polling ws brisk in Dakshina Kannada segment where BJP’s Nalin Kumar Kateel is seeking his third term. It accounted for 32.10 per cent by 11 AM while it was lowest in Bengaluru Rural at 13.54 per cent.
In the other segments, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru recorded 29.01 per cent, Hassan 23.31 per cent, Chitradurga 16.75 per cent, Tumakuru where former prime minister H D Devegowda is the JD(S) candidate 22,62 per cent, Mandya 17 per cent, Musuru-Kodagu 19.99 per cent, Chamarajanagara 19.21 per cent, Bangalore North 15.85 per cent, Bangalore Central 15.27 per cent, Bangalore South 19.69 per cent, Chikkaballapura 17.57 per cent and Kolar 20/22 per cent.
Prominent among the total number of 241 candidates, who are in the fray in the first phase included former Prime minister H D Deve Gowda (Tumakuru), his two grand-sons, Nikhil K (Mandya), Prajval Revanna (Hassan), Union Ministers DV SadanandaGowda (Bengaluru North), K H Muniyappa (Kolar), V Srinivasprasad (Chamarajanagara), Veerappa Moily (Chikkaballapura), Rajya sabha member B K Hariprasad (Bengaluru South) and State BJP General secretary Shobha Karandlaje (Udupi-Chikkamagaluru).
Top politicians and their family, seers and other prominent personnel queued up early in the morning to exercise their franchise and the early birds who turned up the polling booths were chief minsiter H D Kumaraswamy, former prime minister H D Devegowda, Union minister Nirmala Sitaraman, D V Sadananda Gowda, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, former External Affairs Miniser S M Krishna, Veerappa Moily ,Actor-turned politician Prakash Rai (Raj), member of Mysore Royal Family Yaduveera Krishnadatta Wadiyar, Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and his wife Sudha Murthy and seers including Pejwar Mutt head Viswesha Thirtha, Siddaganga Mutt seer Sidddaganga swamiji and Suttur Mutt seer Shivaratri Deshikendra swamiji, ace cricketer Anil Kumble and others.
In a tragic incident assistant polling officer Shantamurthy (48) died due to cardiac arrest while he was discharging his duties at polling station No. 48 in Hanur town coming under Chamarajanagara segment. He was the principal of Hanur Government college. Soon after polling began he fell ill and was shifted to nearby hospital but died.
Meanwhile polling process could be affected as weatherman has warned of widespread rains in the South Interior Karnataka late this afternoon. The region reported heavy rains in many districts in South Karnataka. This has caused concern among the candidates who fear that voting percentage could be affected.
